PhD Students
I am currently looking for two PhD students to start in 2027. If you are interested in working with me, please send me an email with your CV, transcript, and a short description of your interests. If you have written a bachelor’s or master’s thesis before, sending that along (alternatively, any key publications) would be appreciated. Applicants should generally meet the University of Sydney’s academic entry requirements, which correspond to a GPA of approximately 3.7/4.0 on the US scale (equivalent to a WAM above 75 in the Australian system). International qualifications will be considered in accordance with the University’s standard equivalency assessments.
American Students – The American Australia Association offers scholarships to come study in Australia! The application is open from August 1 to September 30. The link with more information can be found here.
Visiting Students: If you are an American student, there is also the Fulbright US Graduate Award! This scholarship supports an 8 month research stay in Australia to support your research. Feel free to reach out if you’re interested!
Bachelors Students + Masters/Postgraduate Students
University of Sydney Engineering Vacation Research Internship (VRI) Program (link) – I have 4 positions open with the VRI program this upcoming Summer (2026). VRI is an 8 week full time research internship over the December – February summer break. Apply on the above University of Sydney VRI webpage if you are interested.
University of Sydney Undergraduate Thesis/PG Thesis – I supervise thesis students on topics related to my research. As a faculty member in the School of Aerospace Mechatronics and Mechanical Engineering, I can supervise students from my school at USyd. If you are interested in my work but in a different school, a co-advising situation with a faculty member from your school may be possible. If you are looking for a thesis supervisor, please reach out, we can have a chat about suitable topics and whether we’re a good advising match.
University of Sydney Research Elective – AERO 2711/3711/4711 are courses for students in aerospace engineering to pursue research projects with faculty in the School of AMME. If you are interested in doing a 1-semester research project on a dedicated space topic, please reach out! This is a great way to space related research before your bachelor’s thesis, and to gain more experience on space related problems in an academic setting.
Some other incredible opportunities to get space-related experience:
- [NSW] Sydney Interplanetary Rover Initaitive (SIRI) – A group of University of Sydney students that are building a rover to compete in teh Australian Rover Challenge.
- [NSW] USyd Rocket Team (link) – This is a university-based rocket team. One of their primary efforts is to design a rocket to to fly to 10,000 ft in the developed hyrbid/liquid motor cateogry of the International Rocket Engineering Competition (IREC).
- [NSW] SOLARIS (link) – This is a university-based satellite development team at the University of Sydney. One of their primary research areas is in the CanSat competition.
- [NSW] BlueSat UNSW (link)- This is a UNSW sydney based team that develops high-altitude balloon platforms, rovers, and a cubesats
- Australian Rover Challenge (link) – this is an annual robotics competition hosted by Adelaide University. University teams are challenged to build semi-autonomous rovers that must complete a range of tasks representative of what rovers do on Mars including navigation, construction, and collection.
- Australian Universities Rocket Competition (link) – Each year, teams design, build, and launch their own single stage high power rockets. Rockets are either solid or hybrid propulsion systems, typically targeting apogees of 5,000, 10,000 or 30,000 ft.
- Australian Space Architecture Competition (link) – This competition focuses on developing deep space human habitation concepts that reflect the interdisciplinary nature of space architecture. This is a competition open to students, graduates and professionals.
- Space Generation Advisory Council (link) – This is a nonprofit international organization that represents students and young professionals in the space industry ages 18 to 35. They organize research events, offer scholarships, professional mentorship, and even do research.
- Mars Society Australia (link) – This is a non-profit organization whose goals are to do broad public outreach about Mars, and to perform resarch and support technological efforts that lead to Mars exploration programs. MSA does comparative research and testing surface exploration strategies to Mars locations.
- National Indigenous Space Academy (link) – This is a specialized program for First Nations STEM students across Australia to intern at leading space facilities. For the 2026 class, students interned at NASA JPL and at Rutherford Appleton Lab (RAL) in the UK.
- Ascleipos (link) – A Swiss analog astronaut mission facility, candidates can be Australian citizens, but they do need to be in an active degree program. (And yes, they have chosen Australians before!) Astronaut candidate classes are generally recruited roughly once a year. Applications for this year open December 1st and close December 31st.
- CalTech Space Challenge (link) – this is for postgraduate students only. CalTech brings 32 students to their campus in the USA to complete a week-long space mission design competition. Participants work under the mentorship of industry, NASA, and academia to design their mission concepts.
- Space Station Design Workshop (link) – Participants design a space station within one week. This is open to students and young professionals, people come from all over the world ( USA, Germany etc) to attend the workshop if selected.
- Hypatia Mars (link) – This is a women-led organization dedicated to advancing space research and outreach. They partner with local and global institutions to advance multidisciplinary space research, and they also do lots of outreach intiatives to raise awareness about different types of work done in STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts, math)
- AIAA International Students and Professionals in Aerospace (ISPA) Working Group. – This is a group dedicated to non-US citizens who want to work professionally in the aerospace industry in the USA. They also host the ISPA mentor program, which will pair students wishing to work in the US after graduation with mentors who have successfully navigated that path as internationals.
- Sustainability of Space Wayfarer Program (link) – This is a mentorship program targeted at recent graduates. It lasts for 6-9 months, with a flexible commitment but the goal is 1-2 days a week are spent on research with a mentor in the space industry. The goal of the experience is to work on meaningful research projects in the space industry and, ideally, publish high-quality, high-value work. All recent graduates from Australian, New Zealand, or UK-based Universities are eligible.
K-12 Students
NASA Space Apps Challenge (link) – I am one of the coordinators for the Sydney branch of the NASA Space App Challenge, a large annual global hackathon. During the two-day hackathon, participants gather at hundreds of in-person and virtual Local events to respond to challenges authored by NASA subject matter experts. Participants utilize NASA’s free and open data and its Space Agency Parterns’ space-data to address real-world problems on Earth and in Space.
This year (2026), the challenge will be occuring November 14th and 15th. Team formation opens on September 17th. With a parental guardian present, the space challenge is open to high school (year 9-12) students. You must have your parent or legal guardian register you as well.
One Giant Leap Australia (link) – An Australian organisation focused on inspiring and educating young people through hands-on STEM and space activities. They connect students with space technology, engineering, and exploration through workshops, educational programs, and practical projects designed to build STEM skills and encourage future careers in the space industry. One Giant Leap Australia delivers programs such as the Kibo Robot Programming Challenge, where students develop programs for robots operating in a simulated International Space Station environment. They have a lot of programs to offer, check their website to see what is age appropriate + happening in your area!
Robinson Aerospace Systems (link) – Robinson Aerospace creates educational satellite kits to teach kids about important STEM concepts (space-related and not). They also work to reduce the teaching workload around teaching space-related STEM concepts, providing both the teaching tools and the lesson plans for teachers to use. Their work is an incredible resource for learning about CubeSats; they also occasionally partner with launch companies to send student projects to orbit (and did so in June 2025!)
Andy Thompson Foundation Kids in Space Program (link) – This program is a sponsored space education program that offers both educators and learners real-world learning opportunities and exciting access to Australia’s growing space industry. Designed to encourage younger students to engage with design challenges relating to the space industry, the program introduces learners to space technology and sparks curiosity about career opportunities within the field. As part of the program, students are asked to design something that might help astronauts to work and live in space or use space technologies to design something that will help solve a problem on Earth. The program has been designed for grades 3-6 students.
Powerhouse Presents “Charles F Bolden: Life in Space” – The 12th administrator of NASA,Charles F Bolden, will be visiting in November to give a talk on his life and career as an astronaut and as a NASA admin! Tickets are 15$. https://powerhouse.com.au/program/opening-fest-charles-bolden-life-in-space
